Instant Sensory Bath Play with Sponge Construction Bricks!

We’re so excited to bring You this particular post! Its something new for us to be blogging from the family bathroom but once we extended our initial idea it was too good not to tell you about it!

I few months back, I’d bought a multi-pack of all purpose sponge cloths from the supermarket (75p from Asda) to use as constructions bricks in the bath! I simply cut them into equal sized rectangles and VOLIA!

These bricks were fun on their own, we used them in all sorts of ways and even made a ‘sponge squid’ by tying the sponges together.

But the best was yet to come! It was when Sparklebug suggested we add our (Learning Resources) Under the Sea counters (..yes we love our LR counters!) both kiddies imaginations went wild!

At first the kiddies explored the differing attributes between the soft wet sponges which floated and the hard rubbery counters which sank! It was this moment when Sparklebug discovered that some of the counters did float… if you put them on the sponges we have (her round baby sponge was the best and even resembled a little floating island!)Suddenly our family bathroom had turned into a little world full of floating islands and little boats, icebergs full of dangerous sharks and rays, octopuses hidden in the deep water, whales and even the occasional seal sunning itself on the shore by the bathtaps!

Sparklebug being caring self set up a sea life sanctuary for all the helpless animals!

Not only did this melt my heart but I loved that she was aware of our world and the need to conserve wildlife in its natural habitats.

We had great chats about this and who would have thought it all came from a packet of sponges and some counters!?!!

We also used the soaked sponges to stick to the tiles to make pattern sequences and helped Sillypup with his numbers by counting the sponges and sorting by colours!

Although Sparklebug wasn’t remotely impressed when Sillypup decided to add his artistic interpretation to the ‘wall’ that she’d carefully just constructed!!

After a while those cute chubby little hands got the hang of how to stick his own sponges on the wall and things began to calm down once again! Siblings, huh?!!

The kiddies were having so much fun they almost forgot to actually bathe! It was so lovely to watch them Play and their little minds open up to the wonder they’d created! little worlds (nature and conservation) the exploration of float/sink, dry/wet, hard/soft attributes (scientific properties). Using the bricks to make constructions, sequences, groupings and assisting number recognition (logical and mathematical exploration). I’m sure I’ve missed a few points but the sky’s the limit to what kids can come up with!

As well as involving themselves in their play both Sparklebug and Sillypup had some seriously silly moments! I love their sense of humour – they must get it from my Hubby!

Here is Sillypup biting an octopus counter and making ‘yum’ noises after I spoke to the kiddies about what sea animals eat and I mentioned that people eat octopus sometimes! This is Sillypup being Dadda eating calamari! Goofy little monkey!

And this is Sparklebug randomly using two pink sponges as ‘elf ears’. This gave her the giggles for a LOOOONNNNGG time! I love her spontaneity! Bless her!

So that’s all folks as they say! Until next time… Please keep supporting us via twitter (@sillysparklessp), our facebook page (Sillysparkles Sensory Play) and of course here on our website.

You can also enter your email on our Welcome page to receive our email updates of new posts, our newsletter and of course the exclusive freebies we’ll be offering you as a valued reader!

We’d also like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to you all!

We’ve had an exciting week this week reaching a milestone on twitter AND been featured on“Ask Pat”

(for more on that please visit http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/ask-pat/ and click on Ask Pat Episode 0264: How Do I Use Social Media To Grow My Audience?).

Once again thank you for all your support and we look forward to hearing any comments or ideas that you would like us to cover or indeed your own versions of our sensory setups!

From Us here at Sillysparkles HQ, Best Wishes, Mama Sillysparkles, Sparklebug and Sillypup! xxxx

thank you! we do too – can’t get better than a simple pack of spongers and I would highly recommend the counters as an investment for all sorts of uses! These are actually from their handy packs (24 peices – approx £6) but I buy their buckets of 92 pieces too (approx £!7)! We have lots of different ones! thanks for your comments Blackheart Betty! xx